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Meet Felipe Negron

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Felipe Negron.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Felipe. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2004, I joined the Real Estate Development Team for European Village Resort in Palm Coast, FL. I proceeded to work with the Developer in multiple roles. I started out by getting my Real Estate License. Then I proceeded to help with the sales of the remaining Condominium Units. Shortly thereafter, I sold the remaining inventory of the Development. From there, I moved to work with the Title Company to help close the units and worked with the construction teams to ensure that the units were completed in a satisfactory manner so that a Certificate of Occupancy for the development could be obtained. Once the C of O was acquired, we began working with the buyers and bringing them to the closing table alongside the Title Company. Once the Development reached a predetermined closed percentage, the Developer sold his interest to a new entity to continue the closings and open the resort.

After the sale closed for European Village Resort, I moved back to Michigan (where I am originally from) and started working for a property management company in 2010. I began as a bookkeeper for the company, but in a short period of time, the owner came to realize my experience in real estate and had me focusing on acquiring new clients for the Property Management side of the company. When I joined the company, there were approximately 50 units under management. In the following years, I became licensed and we were able to grow the portfolio to over 400 rental units, causing the company to relocate to bigger offices and hire more staff, including the launch of an intern program, to help support the growth of the company. Sadly, due to disagreements in business practices, I left the company.

It was during this time that I was trying to determine the next step in my life and career. After a series of interesting events, I decided that I would ride a bicycle around the world. I spent time liquidating my assets and possessions in preparation for the journey. I didn’t really train or have the experience to take on this sort of trip. The majority of my strategy came from a movie I watched, Craigslist Joe. After watching it, I discovered Couch Surfing and the community behind its website. I spent some time trying to wrap my mind around what I was about to do…then one morning…I left. I spent 84 days and rode 2,659 miles from Michigan to Arizona.

During my bike tour, I lost +50 lbs and was low on cash. I really wasn’t excited about getting back into real estate and thought that I could still benefit from losing some more weight. So for the next couple of years, I acquired a job at a gym. I started out as the Fitness Manager and worked my way up to the Senior General Manager overseeing all the gyms in Arizona.

In 2015, the parent company of the Gym I was working for advised that they would be selling the gyms off to new ownership. After speaking with the new Owner, I was told I would be starting over and would need to take several steps back with their organization. I did not feel that was the best move for me considering where I had first started and was at the time. During my time in the fitness industry, I was able to work closely with the Human Resources department of the company and help resolve many of the issues that come up with staff and I was able to coach and counsel many employees to help improve their performance. I decided to seek out roles in the Human Resources industry as I really enjoyed developing employees’ talents and skills.

I spent the next couple of years working in the Human Resources field. It was/is an interesting industry because it is touted as the arm of companies that ensures that the interests of employees are being advocated for. But I found it to be hypocritical at times because the only time that the employee’s interests were being met, at least it seemed to me, was when it was convenient for the employers. This was a very frustrating time for me because as hard as I tried to advocate for employees and still trying to ensure that the employers were being represented equally as well…I found many times that Owners/Leadership pulled the executive card…I felt I was fighting a losing battle.

In 2018, I met my girlfriend Joanna. In 2019, things were going so well that we decided to start family planning. Through one of those conversations, we talked about what retirement would look like for us and for our children as we would be starting our family later in life. I came to the conclusion that I would be spending 100% of my efforts regardless of what industry or job I was in. I knew that if I stayed in a Human Resources role it would mainly consist of every couple of years, zig-zagging into new positions and marginal pay increases. All the while, I kept seeing and hearing about how great the Arizona Real Estate Market (Maricopa County in particular) was doing. It got me to thinking…the first time I was in real estate, Flagler County in Florida was one of the best counties at the time for real estate. The second time I was in real estate, Kent County in Michigan was one of the best counties at the time for real estate. Here I was…2019 and Maricopa County in Arizona is the hottest county in the country for real estate.

Around this same time, the Owner of the company I was working for in Human Resources asked me to break a law. I took this as the final sign that I had to go back to real estate to be my own boss and create a business that not only would take care of my needs and the needs of my loved ones. It would also allow me to create an environment for employees that would cause them to wake up inspired, feel safe at work and return home fulfilled at the end of the day. The last part of my last sentence was from a quote by Simon Sinek. My last HR position helped me realize that I want to build a company that embodies the quote from Simon Sinek.

In 2019, I quit my last job…I started my own company and acquired my real estate license. Today, I’m working on making my dreams a reality.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh my gosh no! I feel like for the first third of my life I subconsciously would sabotage myself and I had this bad luck cloud hanging over my head that would just bring all sorts of turmoil into my life.

I’ve always felt like an ugly duckling…awkward and out of place. Growing up, I was the only non-American student in many of my classes. There were a few people that were of other nationalities but I recall that it wasn’t until middle school that I saw multiple persons of color in a class excluding family events. I felt bombarded from all angles…classmates would make fun of me for being different…family would bust my chops for not being Latino enough. I just got to the point where I would tune everyone out. I would do things to fit in just to avoid any backlash of making the people I was with feel out of place. To add to my awkward feelings, I was taller than everyone else until about High School when my classmates started catching up in height and some even surpassed me. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone made a “Tall Latino” joke.

It really created a life in my youth and through to after high school, where I would do just enough to get by. I made large efforts to get everyone to like me which in many instances would backfire on me and made me feel bad because I wouldn’t express how I really felt.

It wasn’t until after a few years of college and still continuing my “Just Enough” efforts that I got to a place where I asked myself, “What would happen if I really applied myself?” I remember I decided to transfer schools and start over. I enrolled in 2 summer classes…English and Psychology. I 4.0’d both classes. I was shocked and started to think that I was smarter than I was putting out into the world. That next semester I went full time and for the next 2.5 years, I 4.0’d every single class I was in. I was on a role. But my bad habits were still lingering inside me. I went through a break up heading into my Junior year of college. I was my first real “heartbreak” and I did not know how to handle it and I did not have the support network to help me get through this. I ended up with my first non 4.0 grade in a class…Calculus – 3.5. I was in quite a tailspin. The next semester I withdrew from all my classes because I was still struggling in dealing with heart-break. It was over that next winter break that I ended up moving to Florida and began a career in Real Estate.

Alright – so let’s talk business. What else should we know about you and your career so far?
This is an interesting question to answer because in some aspects I have years of experience and in others, I’m at the beginning.

I’ll start by breaking up my focuses into its pieces.

The most recent addition of my business is the Realtor services I provide through Realty One Group. I’m focusing my specialty to be in helping people either Sell, Buy, or Rent Real Estate. I don’t believe that I can say I’m known for anything yet in Arizona as I just acquired my license in 2019.

Another aspect of my business is the services I plan to provide through my company Abeja Property Group. I started the company based on a quote I referenced earlier by Simon Sinek, “Imagine a world in which the vast majority of us wake up inspired, feel safe at work and return home fulfilled at the end of the day.”

For the majority of my life, it has seemed to me that Companies/Employers only care about the bottom line. I’ve come to learn in my career that managing budgets is hugely important and critical for the success of any company. But so many times, I’ve watched Owners and Executive Leadership make decisions to the detriment of their employees…several times I was that employee. Later to tout the “We Care About Our People…blah…blah…blah”. I’d look at their decisions and, in the beginning, I’d justify them by saying, “Oh they’re the Owner, they know something I don’t so that’s why they did what they did.” Later, as I grew in my career and I was able to sit at the table when those decisions were being made…the details and particulars were the same (excluding the people) and the same decisions were being made…I saw all the facts…and in those decisions it was clearly stated the “people” were the least important thing in the decision. It took me back…if it weren’t for the people, you would not be where you are today. One company, in particular, I worked for, these types of decisions were commonplace. I was so shocked at the lack of care and genuine empathy towards their employees. I looked at the tenures of all the current employees and there were over 525 cumulative years invested in that company and the Owner couldn’t care less about that investment. He was always stating “How He” and if it “Wasn’t for Him”…I have not encountered an environment where the Owners/Executive Leadership consistently cared to focus on their people first.

I got to thinking how I would excel if I just got a chance…if I would have gotten the tools and resources I needed…how I would have been able to excel. For the most part of my career, my successes have come from collaborations with teammates and creativitiy and industriousness on our parts.

This is when I started to think about starting my own company. What could I be proud of when all is said and done? What would set me apart from others?

I decided that my company would Invest in People and in return they would Invest in Us. The investment sentiment fit well with the Real Estate focus I had been having. So it made sense to design Abeja Property Group to focus on Real Estate Investments. At this time, I was working on a logo. The “Abeja”, Spanish for “Honeybee” came to surface. I thought to myself, why a Honeybee? If you think about it…they build communities, they make a sweet product and if you mess with their home, they’ll fight you to the death. I decided that if we use the DNA that makes a Honeybee behave the way it does and weave it into the DNA of our real estate investments all the while investing in people…we’d have a wonderful strategy for success.

Living life this way and conducting our business through this strategy will definitely make me proud and I’m confident we’ll stick out from the crowd soon enough.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I have several people in my life who deserve credit. In no particular order…

My girlfriend Joanna. She is the first person I have ever been dating that I can genuinely say loves me for who I am. She doesn’t try to change me. I don’t feel judged by her. And I feel she does a great job at being my cheerleader as each day goes by.

I would say my Uncle Valente. He has been my role model from a very young age. I aspire to be a fraction of who he is as a person. I struggle to summarize his influence so I’ll attempt to do it in an experience I had with him. During my time in Florida, I mentioned I was on the Development Team for a large real estate project. I did not mention until this point that the Developer was my Uncle Valente. I recall I was in the courtyard of the project working with some commercial contractors when a local reporter stopped me and asked if I knew where I could find the developer as he wanted to do an interview about the project. I told him where Valente’s office was and that he was the developer. He shockingly said that he spoke to him earlier in the day and mentioned that Valente did not mention to him that he was the developer but did highlight what the project status was and the benefits that the project was hoping to bring to the local community. The reporter when on to say how pleasant Valente presented himself and the project and added that he would have never guessed that Valente was the rich person behind the project because of the humility he displayed in their conversation. I remembered at that moment, the impression Valente left on that reporter was the type of person I wanted to be and leave people with that exact sense of joy and humbleness for having interacted with them.

My Mom. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized a lesson she tried to teach me in youth about Leadership. Leaders have a servant’s heart.

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